Employment negotiations with Westpac begin in March this year. The Westpac Union Council has identified four goals for these negotiations to make Westpac a Better Bank:
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- Win pay equity – staff deserve the same pay as workers at other banks.
- Build a better pay system – Westpac needs to work to create a pay system that is better for staff and the bank. The current pay system is creating workplace stress and inequities. Customers do not like it either.
- Stop the job cuts – Westpac is planning on reducing staff numbers by over 80 in provincial New Zealand. Westpac needs more staff, not job cuts.
- Improve our rights as workers – Everyone should have the right to be treated fairly during re-structures, and the right to negotiate collectively.
The first of these problems is pay equity. For example a Westpac teller starts at $27,211 and their 100% rate is $34,013. Meanwhile an ANZ National Customer Services Officer starts on$29,812 (9.6% more) and the 100% rate is $41,737 (22.7% more).
Even if a Westpac teller was to receive consistently high performance ratings and the bank agreed to give them additional salary increases allowing them to reach 114% of the salary scale, they would still only receive $38,775, which is 7.64% less than the 100% rate for ANZ National tellers.
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